ARTS OF THE NEOCLASSIC AND ROMANTIC PERIODS

INTRODUCTION
•In the middle of the 18th century, Neoclassicism was born out of rejection of the Rocco and late Baroque styles. Romanticism began in
the same era but its approach had to do with the modern or new rather than the traditional.

WHAT TO KNOW
•Neoclassicism and Romanticism were the movements after the Rococo period that flourished across Western Europe and the United
States which spanned approximately from the late eighteenth to the nineteenth
centuries.

NEOCLASSICISM (1780-1840)
•The word neoclassic came from the G re e k word neos meaning “new” and the Latin word classicus which is similar in meaning to the
English phrase” first class”.
• The Western movement in decorative and visual arts was called Neoclassicism. It also
Applies to literature, theater, music, and architecture that were influenced by the Classical art and
Culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
• The Neoclassical movement coincided with 18th century A g e of Reason also known as the
Age of Enlightenment. The art style in this period was brought about by the renewed interest in G re e k and Roman classics.
•Neoclassical art pieces such as paintings, sculpture and architecture generally portrayed Roman history which elevated the Roman
heroes.
Characteristics:
 portrayal of Roman history
 formal composition
 the use of diagonals to show the peak of an emotion or moment (versus a regular moment)
 local color
 overall lightning
 classic geo-structure
ROMANTICISM (1800s – 1810s)
Romanticism was a movement in which the artists of Neoclassical period sought to break new ground in the expression of
emotion, both subtle and stormy. It embraces a number of distinctive themes, such as a longing for history, supernatural elements,
social injustices, and nature.
Landscape painting also became more popular sue to the peoples’ romantic adoration of nature.
Romanticism was a reaction to the classical, contemplative nature of Neoclassical pieces.
Characteristics:
 shows the height of action
 emotional extremes
 celebrated nature as out of control
 dramatic compositions
 heightened sensation (life and death moments)

GOTHIC REVIVAL ARCHITECTURE (NEOGOTHIC)

Gothic Revival, also referred to as Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic, is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in
England. Many of Neogothic buildings feature castellation in which the walls and towers are crenellated in imitation of medieval castles.
Indeed, heavily castellated Neogothic buildings have been often referred to as “castles”, even though they never served as a defensive
structure. Among them was Strawberry Hill House (demolished and restored), the most famous work of the decorative phase of the
Gothic Revival.
Gothic Revival became widely used for churches and civic buildings throughout the West, especially in Britain and the United
States. Bricks and stones were both commonly used.

Neo-classical and Romantic Artists

NEOCLASSICAL PAINTERS ROMANTIC PAINTERS
1. Jacques- Louis David (1748-1825)France 1. Jean Louis Théodoré Géricault (1791 -1824)-France
- was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style and - was the first French master and the leader of the French
considered to be the pre-eminent painter of the era. His subjects realistic school. His masterpiece was energetic, powerful,
of paintings were more on history. brilliantly colored, and tightly composed.

2. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres 2. Eugéne Delacroix (1798-1863)France

(1780-1867)-France - was considered the greatest French Romantic painter of all.
- was a pupil of Jacques-Louis David. He was influenced by He achieved brilliant visual effects using small, adjacent
strokes of contrasting color. - He was the most influential to
Italian Renaissance painters like Raphael, Nicolas Pousin,
most of Romantic painters and eventually, his technique was
Botticelli, and his mentor, Jacques-Louis David.
adopted and extended by the Impressionist artists.
- His paintings were usually nudes, portraits, and mythological
themes. He was regarded as one of the great exemplars of
academic art and one of the finest Old Masters of his era.
3. Francisco Goya (1746-1828)-Spain - was a
commissioned Romantic painter by the King of Spain. He
was also a printmaker regarded both as the last of the “Old
Masters” and the first of the “Moderns”.

4. Théodore Rousseau and JeanBaptiste-Camille Corot

- famous landscape artists during the Romantic period.
- They were members of the Barbizon School (a circle of
artists who held meetings in the village of Barbizon) that led the
Romantic landscape painting in France.
 Neo-classical and Romantic Artists in the Philippines
Félix Resurrectión Hidalgo y Padilla (1855 – 1913)
He was one of the great Filipino painters of the late 19th century who was significant
in the Philippine history for inspiring members of the Philippine reform movement.
Juan Luna y Novicio (1857-1899)
He was a painter and sculptor, who became one of the first recognized Philippine artists. He was also a political activist of the
Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. One of his famous artworks was the Spoliarium, a Latin word referring to the
basement of the Roman Colosseum wherein the fallen and dying gladiators were dumped and devoid of their worldly possessions.
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (1892-1972)
He was a National Artist in painting. He was portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes, and he was popularly known
for his craftsmanship and mastery of the use of light.
Guillermo Estrella Tolentino (1890-1976)
He was a sculptor and was named National Artist for the Visual Arts in 1973 and is hailed as the “Father of Philippine Arts.”
Napoleón Isabelo Veloso Abueva
He is a National artist for Sculpture. He was entitled as the “Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture.” He has been the only
Boholano to be given the distinction of National Artist of the Philippines in the field of Visual Arts.

Neoclassical Art, also known as the revival of artistic canons from Classical Antiquity, began in the mid-1700s.
It started as a reaction to the former Rococo period, in which art was whimsical and playful. Neoclassical artists wanted a
return to traditionalism and the grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome. They felt that the Rococo period and the
Enlightenment did not fully express the discomfort that the people felt about the lifestyle of nobility and the need for a
democratic society.
Neo-classical and Romantic Characteristics
NEOCLASSICAL ROMANTIC
 Classical Themes: the subjects placed in  Bold and dramatic paintings
archeological settings with people dressed in
classical costumes
 Artists integrated Greek and Roman  Shows nationalism, exoticism,
elements into the portraits. individualism, and heroism

 Paintings contained mythological  Romantic artists such as Jacques Louis

creatures and fabled beings. David and Thomas
Gainsborough painted many pictures of
royalty.
 Unlike Romantic Art, Neoclassical Art contains  Natured played a major part, as many artists
no emotion and portrayals of heroic actions. painted pictures of landscapes or long-
distance exotic places
 Natural world was considered more as a place
of mysterious powers rather than perfection

Neoclassical Painting
Neoclassical artists embraced the ideals of order and moderation in which artistic interpretations of classic Greek
and Roman history were restored to realistic portrayals. Neoclassical painters gave great importance to the costumes,
settings, and details of classical subject-matter without adding distracting details but with as much historical accuracy as
possible.
Neoclassical Painting Functions

The Death of Marat (J. David)

David’s masterpiece shows the portrayal of a revolutionary

martyr. This is a painting of the murdered French revolutionary
leader Jean-Paul Marat.

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (J.David)

The painting that showed a strongly idealized view of the real
crossing that Napoleon and his army made across the
Alps through the Great St. Bernard Pass in May 1800.

Oath of the Horatii (J. David)

It was a large painting that depicts a scene from a Roman
legend about the dispute between Rome and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacque Alba Longa. The three brothers, all of whom appear willing to
s-
sacrifice their lives for the good of Rome, are shown
saluting their father who holds their swords out for them.
 Portrait of Napoleon on the Imperial
Throne (J. Ingres)
The painting depicts Napoleon in his decadent coronation
costume, seated upon his golden- encrusted throne, hand
resting upon smooth ivory balls. During his reign, the
painting was owned by the Corps Legislatif which was a
part of the French Legislature. The painting was believed
to be commissioned by Napoleon as king of Italy.

The Apostheosis of Homer (J. Ingres)

The painting was a state-commission by

Charles X to have him remembered in the building works
of the louvre. The painting depicts an image of Homer,
receiving all the brilliant men of Rome, Greece, and
contemporary times.

Neoclassical Sculptures
The Neoclassical period was one of the great ages of public sculpture. Artists looked to Roman styles during the time
of Alexander the Great for inspiration as well as to mimic their style.

Neoclassical Sculptures Functions

Psyche Awakened by Cupid’s Kiss (A. Canova)

A marble sculpture portraying the relationship of
Psyche and Cupid.

Washington (A. Canova)

This is a marble sculpture of Washington currently
displayed at North Carolina Museum of History.

Christ (B.Thorvaldsen)
A marble sculpture image of resurrected
Christ currently located at the Thorvaldsen Museum.

Lion of Lucerne (B.Thorvaldsen)

A sculpture of a dying lion in lucerne, Switzerland
that commemorates the Swiss Guards who
were massacred in 1792 during the French
Revolution.

Neoclassical Architecture
Neoclassical architectural styles in the mid-18th century. It turned away from the grandeur of Rococo styles and the Late
Baroque. In its purest form, Neoclassical architecture was a style principally derived from the architecture of Classical Greece
and Rome and the architectural designs of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio.
Temple Style
- Building design was based on an ancient temple.
- Architects of that period focused mainly on applying classical elements to churches and modern buildings like palazzos
and villas.
- Buildings feature a peristyle (a continuous line of columns around a building), a rare feature of Renaissance
architecture.
 -
British Museum, London, Robert
Smirke
La Madeleine de Paris by PierreAlexandre Vignon

Palladian Style
- Based on Andrea Palladio’s style of villa construction.
- Buildings feature a balustrade “balusters” or spindles” which is a railing with vertical supports along the edge of the roof.
It is also having a flat or low-lying roof.
- It is also a classical method of crowning a building that has a flat or low lying roof.

United States Capitol White House

Classical Block Style

- buildings feature a rectangular or square plan, with a flat roof and an exterior rich in classical detail.
- The exterior features a repeated classical pattern or series of arches and/or columns.
- The overall impression of such a building was a huge, classically decorated rectangular block.
- It is also known as “Beaux-Arts style,” since it was developed principally by the French École des Beaux-Arts (School of
Fine Arts).
- Classical architecture also flourished in the United States, particularly in New York.

Library of Sainte-Geneviéve (H. Palais Garnier “Paris Opera Labrouste)

House” (C. Garnier)

Romantic Art

Romantic Art began in the late 18th to the mid-19th century as a reaction against the Neoclassical period. It started as
an artistic and intellectual movement.
This movement hoped to rebel against established values. Romantic Art promoted individualism, subjectivism,
irrationalism, emotions, and nature. Romantics believed that emotion prevailed over reason and senses over intellect.

Romantic Painting (Portraits/Figures)

The paintings of the Romantic period gave more emphasis on emotion. Artists expressed as much feeling and passion
as it could be on a canvas.

Romantic Painting Functions

 The Raft of the Medusa (T. Géricault)
The Raft of the Medusa portrays the victims of a contemporary
shipwreck. The people on this raft were French emigrants en
route to West Africa.

Charging Chasseur(T. Géricault)

His first major work revealed the influence of the style of
Rubens and an interest in the depiction of contemporary
subject matter.

Insane Woman (T. Géricault)

One of several portraits Gericault made of the mentally
disabled that has a peculiar hypnotic power.

Liberty Leading the People (E. Delacroix)

The painting commemorates the July Revolution of 1830,
which toppled King Charles X of France. A woman holding
the flag of
the French Revolution personifies Liberty and leads the
people
forward over the people forward over the bodies of the fallen.

Romantic Painting Functions

The Third of May (F. Goya)

The Third of May is Goya’s masterpiece that sought to

commemorate Spanish resistance to
Napoleon’s armies during the occupation of 1880 in the
Peninsula War.

Saturn Devouring His Son (F. Goya)

The artwork depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus

(Saturn), who fears that he would be
overthrown by one of his children, so he ate each one upon their
birth.

The Burial of Sardine (F. Goya)

The Burial of the Sardine was a Spanish ceremony

celebrated on Ash Wednesday and was a symbolic burial of
the past to allow society to be reborn, transformed with new
vigor.

Landscape Painting
Landscape painting depicts the physical world that surrounds us and includes features such as mountains, valleys,
vegetation, and bodies of water. The sky is another important element shaping the mood of landscape paintings. Landscape
art ranges from highly detailed and realistic to impressionistic, romantic, and idealized.
 Der Kleine Fischer

The Church of Marissel,

near Beauvais (J. Corot)

Romantic Sculpture
Romantic sculpture can be divided into works that concern about the human world and
those that concern the natural world. The leading sculptors of each type were Rude and Barye, respectively.
Romantic Sculpture Functions

Departure of the Volunteers (F. Rude)

Knowns as La Marseillaise, this work portrays the goddess

liberty urging the forces of the French Revolution onward.

Hercules Sitting On A Bull (A. Barye)

Gothic Revival Architecture (Neogothic)

The most commonly identifiable feature of the Gothic Revival style is the pointed arch, used for windows, doors, and
decorative elements like porches, dormers, or roof gables. Gothic Revival style buildings often have porches with decorative
turned posts or slender columns, with flattened arches or side brackets connecting the posts. Gothic Revival style churches
may have not just pointed arch windows and porticos, but often feature a Norman castle-like tower with a crenellated parapet or
a high spire.

Neo-

Westminster Palace (London)

classicism and Romanticism in the Philippines St. Patrick’s Cathedral St.
Artworks

The Christian Virgin Being Exposed Planting Rice with Mayon

to the Populace (F. Hidalgo) Volcano ( F.Amorsolo)

Pambansang Bantayog ni Andres Bonifacio (G. Toelntino)

Spoliarium (J. Luna)
INFLUENCE FROM NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD: Revisiting Greco-Roman Concepts
Today, Classical Greeks and Romans were well-known because of their mythological convictions, that’s why there were
confusions for learners. Upon looking to the works of these artists, they tend to think that the Neoclassical Era is an era of Greek and
Roman period.
In Art, Neoclassical period- is a period of revisiting Greco-Roman concepts.
Antonio Canova sculpted a marble sculpture portraying the
relationship of Psyche and Cupid, the Greek Gods.

At the core of Neoclassical sculpture was this massive belief in a sense of

decorum. Idealized faces adorned the bodies of classical heroes dressed
in their perfect uniforms.

Gestures and emotions were always restrained to place more focus on the idea of “calm grandeur”, beautiful forms,
and spiritual nobility. We can see evidence of this work from Jean-Pierre Cortot, who created Le Triomphe de 1810. This bas-
relief sculpture resides the famous Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile in Paris featuring Napoleon being crowned by goddess of
Victory.

There are so many Neoclassical architectures that until now serves its purpose. Like the White House and the United States
Capitol. These two civic buildings were designed by Robert Adam.

The White House is the official residence and The United States Capitol often called the Capitol
workplace of the president of the United States. It is Building is the meeting place of the United States
located at Washington D.C. and has been president Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the
since John Adams in 1800. U.S federal government. It is located at Washington D.C

Large columns reminiscent of ancient Greek architecture also became prevalent during this time.

DORIC IONIC CORINTIAN

Many 19th century homes of the Neoclassical

 entry points. The architect of the Orlando
Brown house in Kentucky chose columns to
match the stature and dignity of the owner.
With the discovery that Greeks painted the inside of their temples, many of Europe's elite drew on this notion for creative inspiration.
This proves that Greco-Roman influences are proliferating during this period. They moved away from Rococo or Late Baroque type of
architectures

INFLUENCE OF ROMANTIC PERIOD: Extreme Virtuosity and Gothic Revival

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century.
Romanticism reached beyond the rational and Classicist ideal models to elevate a revived medievalism.
It also legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority, which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in
art.
Since the Renaissance, history painting was considered among the highest and most difficult forms of art. History painting is
defined by its subject matter rather than artistic style. It was extremely popular depicting historical scenes, rather than those from
religion or mythology.

Delacroix’ Liberty Leading the people (1830) remains The Hulsenbeck Children by Philip Otto Tunge, oil
one of the best known works of French Romantic on canvas. Runge was a well-known German
painting. Both of these works reflected current events Romantic painter.
and appealed to public sentiment.

The rise of Landscape Painting: Romantic landscape painting in France was led by the Barbizon school, a circle of artists
who held meetings in the village of Barbizon. The two most famous members of this school may be Théodore Rousseau and Camille
Corot.
Landscape painting portrays natural sceneries, for example, mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, in which the primary
subject is for wide view and the components are organized into a coherent composition.

The Hay Wain by John Constable, 1821. Constable The Oxbow by Tomas Cole, 1836. Thomas Cole was a
was a popular English Romantic Painter. founding member of the pioneering Hudson school, the
most influential landscape art movement in 19th Century
America

Motivated by medieval design, Gothic Revival architecture also referred to as Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic, it is an architectural
movement that began in England at late 1740s. Gothic was a style for houses of worship, where it was intended to worship divine
beings and included exact numerical proportions and calculations. In this case, Gothic Revival changed it into an enhancing, whimsical
style with little association with the past.

The most basic component of the Gothic style of architecture

is the pointed arch.
Columns that help arches are more modest and smaller in
Gothic structures, and proceed all the way to the
rooftop, where they become part of the vault. In the
vault, the pointed arch can be found in three
dimensions where the ribbed vaulting meets in the
center of the ceiling.
The number of new Gothic Revival buildings declined sharply after
the 1930s because modern architects engulf technological
advancements in a more creative and functional way, leaving gothic
style behind.
This ribbed vaulting is another distinctive element of
Gothic design. The thin columns and lighter allowed bigger windows
and more light in Gothic structures. The windows, mesh, carvings, and ribs make up a stupefying presentation of design. Though
different in style, the eras of Neoclassical and Romantic art both became embedded in Europe's history. Their wide range of culture
and influence is a true testament to the evolution of art in the whole world.

Almost every corner is decorated with proportional shapes and

patterns. Gothic revival houses and more modest structures
became popular. These structures are characterized by their
Cologne Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in utilization of Gothic components, for example, pointed curves
Northern Europe and steep peaks.

The Gothic style directed the utilization of unique structures,

prompting tall, buttressed structures with interior columns and narrow
windows. However, by the beginning of the twentieth century, mechanical
advancements, for example, the steel outline or frames and the elevator
led many artists to see this style of architecture as obsolete. Steel frames
displaced the non-decorative elements of rib vaults, furnishing more
extensive open interiors with lesser view interruptions.

The Santa Justa Lift

(1901), Lisbon, Portugal

When western countries colonized the Philippines they also instilled to early Filipinos their culture, traditions and arts. Being
an absorbing sponge, artists embraced the western ideology by using neoclassicism and romanticism in their various artworks such
as painting, sculpture and architecture. The following great Filipino artists showed their own adaptation of western art traditions.

The Ch ristian Virgins being Exposed to the Populace

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF MANILA

1900s is a reforming century of the Philippines, these are the

years wherein some artist used arts to inspire revolution two of
them is Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo y Padilla and Juan Luna y
Novicio. Padilla painted the The Christian Virgins Being Exposed
to the Populace, the painting depicts two Christian female slaves
being mocked by male Roman bystanders.
 Luna is one of the first recognized Filipino artists who
painted the Spoliarium. It shows a gruesome carnage brought
by gladiatorial matches. It is a representation of Imperial
Rome conforming to Imperial Spain. The cryptic image
represents the persecution and discrimination of the
indigenous people.

Spoliarium
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PHILLIPINES

Landscape painting is also an influence from

the romantic art period. Fernando Cueto Amorsolo, a portraitist
and a painter of rural Philippine landscapes utilized the used of
lights in his work.
He was a dominant figure in the visual arts of the Philippines
during the decades before the Second World War and into the post-war
period. The Planting Rice exhibits
the happiness across from the difficulties in planting rice Planting Rice

Sculptural work is also prevalent in the

Philippines during the 19th century. Guillermo
Estrella Tolentino was named as the National
Artists for the Visual Arts in 1973 and he was
also hailed as the “Father of Philippine Arts”
He was appointed as professor at the UP School of
Fine Arts where the idea also of executing a monument for
national heroes struck him. The result was the UP Oblation
that became the symbol of freedom at the campus.

Another
National Artist
who was labeled as the “Father of Modern Philippine
Sculpture” who was born in Bohol is Napoleon Isabelo
Velaso Abueva. He was the only Boholano given this kind
of distinction. His “Siyam na Diwata ng Sining” (1991) stands
stately at the grounds of Bulwagang Rizal in UP Diliman.

Siyam na Diwata ng Sining

UP DILIMAN CAMPUS